Becoming Mortal: Reveal the Darkness Within
by YGOAnimexLover
Summary: Marik takes away Bakura's power and turns him into a mortal. Ryo and his Yami are transported to the mortal world and Bakura has no memory of his past life. His hikari takes the role as Bakura's sadistic little brother. Can they recover Bakura's memory?


**What it's Like to be Mortal**

**Reveal the Darkness Within**

In the corner of his eye, Bakura caught the sight of his hikari. With apprehension, the former thief king turned away and pretended he didn't notice him.

With a glance of annoyance, the smaller boy swiftly stepped toward his counterpart. Ryo took in a deep breath. "I forgot to check your arm this afternoon. So, could I see it, please?" he exhaled with irritation.

Bakura's shoulders slightly tensed up as he was demanded to show his arms. Without much hesitation, he pulled back his sleeves. He turned his arms over and revealed the scars--scars of misery. Upon his left arm, Bakura had recently engraved a scramble of hieroglyphs.

The hikari released a deep and aggravated sigh. Ryo scanned his yami's right arm before he gone on to the left. His eyes widened; his gaze laid upon the hieroglyphs. "Bakura, what do they say?"

Bakura couldn't stand people getting into his personal business, but this was his hikari and there was nothing he could do. It was Ryo's job to know these things. The tone in his voice was blunt and emotionless. "Nothing." He had much experience with lying his way through things but this time he had an urge to tell Ryo his deep and dark secret.

Ryo dug his nose deeper into the subject. The concern within grew more as he eyed the engravings a bit more. "So, they're pointless?" his stare didn't soften as he studied the scars.

"No." Guilt started to take hold of Bakura's senses. This emotion he recently discover some time ago, was actually taking a hold of him, literally.

Bakura's hikari tried to fish the meaning out of him. "Then why did you do that?" A glint of concern shone in Ryo's deep, chocolate eyes.

The taller boy turns his head away to lose the sight of his concerned hikari. With much frustration in his mind, knowing that the doer of the carvings was not him, the emotion pushed Bakura to reveal the translation to Ryo. He gave in before it could push much more.

"They say..." Bakura hesitated, holding back the feeling of guilt, "the power of darkness comes from within--within the _pure_ darkness," the translation ended with a guilty tone as it pushed itself out of Bakura.

Ryo's eyes blinked as he got confused even more. He couldn't see why his yami would carve such a thing into his arm. "You're not pure darkness," he cautiously pointed out.

Bakura's voice flushed with grief and defeat as he knew he couldn't hold it back much longer. "I know,"

Without hesitation and no fuss from Bakura, Ryo took a hold of his arm and looked over the hieroglyphs more closely. The flesh hadn't fully recovered as the wound still left some excess blood on the surface. "Then why would you write it?"

The yami turned his head back toward Ryo to watch his hikari look over his arm. His gaze was soft and warm. He only wished that his hikari wouldn't have to get involved with his problems. "Because I've changed, but he won't let me change,"

Ryo's eyes again blinked in utter confusion. All he could do at the moment was wonder who the _he_ was. He looked up to Bakura and stared straight back into the deep sorrow eyes of his counterpart. "_He_? Who is _he_?"

Quickly, Bakura shut his eyes and turned his head away. "The pure darkness," his tone shriveled in fear. A translucent figure materialized behind Bakura, reflecting his image. The spirit was back-to-back with the other. It limply cocked its head to look at Ryo, a grin plastered across his lips.

His eyes, of pale amythest, could strike through any soul that dare stood in his way. The spiky silver hair gave his saddistic look an even more frightening aura. The long mauve cape behind him reached down to his ankles and was hooked onto his shirt underneath--which was a more than less off white. His kaki cargo pants were of a beige color and were long as they somewhat dragged behind him. The most frightening feature of all, was the face. Veins were sticking out from the side of his head, showing just how artocious he really was.

Fear filled the smaller boy's body as the grin pinned his conscious down. Ryo started to slowly back away and Bakura's arm slipped from his grip. "Marik..."

Pain started to jerk at Bakura's back. The pupils within the brown iris shrunk as the eyes widened in agony. His knees quivered and gave in under him. Kneeling upon the ground, Bakura's face became pale. His breathing became laboured and slow. Bakura let out a faint scream. Two humps appeared upon his shoulder blades and grew. They ripped through his shirt and widely spread into wings with thick, black feathers. The feathers had a glossy shine as they were abundant and healthy, flurished along the wing frame.

Ryo's eyes widened in horror as the large black wings had spread from his yami's back.

The spirit's grin grew a bit larger with an evil aura. "Yes, little one. It is me," his voice being deep with a scratchy tone. It almost echoed within itself.

"W-what are you doing!" stuttering, Ryo almost pleaded for an answer. The sight of the evil spirit made a shiver run down the back of the hikari and almost he cringed. "Leave Bakura alone!" his voice was demanding with fear and rage.

The grin upon the spirit's translucent face shifted into a wicked smirk. "I cannot do that. He has what belongs to me," he blunty stated. Marik turned to face Bakura's back. The smirk faded to a faint upturned smile. His eyes were narrow with concentration as his hands firmly gripped onto the frame of the wings. With haste, Marik stepped on Bakura's back with a foot and put tension on the wings. (A/N: Let's just say that Bakura made a few deals with Marik and he didn't know what was going to hit him for it. :3)

Bakura's eyes shut as pain throbbed through his spine.

"Stop it! You'll hurt him!" Ryo cried out.

Great pain and agony struck his back with a hard blow. Bakura gasped for air as he lost his breath from the jerking pain in his chest. He couldn't help but feel sorry, for Ryo had watched such a horrible sight. And it would only get worse.

Why wouldn't his hikari help him? He had the power and strength to ward off Marik. After all the trainning Bakura had given his hikari, he didn't bother to help. All that came out of his mouth were cries and demands. He just didn't do it. Bakura assumed it was true--true that his hikari really did hate him and loathed his very presence.

As Marik pulled on Bakura's wings, putting tremendous tension on them, Bakura let out a howl of pain. From the joints on his back, there came a sound of cracking bones.

Impulsively, Ryo dogded under the wing and came between the two. One hand was gripped onto the wing and Marik's grasping wrist. With much effort, the hikari tried to separate Marik from Bakura's wings.

The only words that came from Marik's mouth was, "You brat," and with a strong yank on Bakura's wings, while he still had grip on them, the joints broke and the wings became separate from Bakura.


End file.
